Partnerize’s annual Partnership Day in Sydney lived up to this year’s theme: “Level Up”. Held at the Sydney Opera House, the event brought together industry experts and partners for a day of insightful discussions, actionable strategies, and valuable networking.
The event began with George Gray, Partnerize’s VP of Customer Success, highlighting the growing need for marketers to engage consumers across multiple channels. He emphasized that partnerships provide cost-effective scalability compared to more expensive channels like search and social—offering a combination of automation, audience reach, and outcome-based pricing.
George emphasised something that I echo wholeheartedly – the best way for a marketer to ‘level up’ is by harnessing this winning formula of scale, automation, and outcome-based models. Affiliate and partnership marketing is the answer.
With coffee in hand, kindly sponsored by Loyalty Now, attendees could choose from two concurrent sessions. A fireside chat with Tupperware discussed how aligning affiliate strategies with business goals helps optimize performance while being new to the channel. Meanwhile, ShopBack emphasized the importance of mobile-first shopping, noting that app-exclusive deals can drive downloads and foster customer loyalty.
Here’s what we learned…
Tupperware’s Journey ‘New to Channel’ with Yulin Tan and Partnerize’s Mandie Satterfield
A key takeaway from Tupperware’s experience in launching an affiliate program is the importance of clearly defining your objectives and success metrics from the outset. These will serve as the foundation for shaping your strategy and selecting the right mix of partners.
Equally critical is securing stakeholder alignment—keeping key internal teams informed, engaged, and committed throughout the process to ensure long-term success.
Mobile-first shopping is the future of retail with ShopBack, featuring Tom Howard and Iris Huynh:
The future of retail lies in mobile-first strategies, with Gen Z and Millennials spending an average of 6.5 hours per day on their mobile devices. App users, in particular, tend to demonstrate high retention, often becoming “sticky customers” who engage consistently over time.
One effective tactic to boost app adoption is the use of exclusive, app-only promotions. These offers incentivize downloads and leverage gamification elements to enhance user engagement, driving both conversions and long-term customer loyalty.
Cashrewards’ Lachlan Brahe and Dominic Ferguson joined forces with our long-term customer and event sponsor Adore Beauty’s Daniella Piedrahita:
Brands aiming for expansion can significantly enhance their audience reach by leveraging retail media. By employing precise targeting strategies, Cashrewards automates campaigns designed to re-engage customers, ultimately increasing their lifetime value and transforming occasional buyers into loyal patrons.
Daniella emphasized the emerging trend of diversifying commissioning strategies, signaling a notable shift in how brands are approaching discussions centered solely on cost-per-acquisition (CPA) models. This evolution reflects a broader understanding of the value that varied compensation structures can bring to partnership dynamics.
Emily Spinks from CAMILLA and Partnerize’s Geissi Matos Discuss CAMILLA’s Impressive Global Expansion Through Affiliate Partnerships
The brand’s previous partner program relied predominantly on last-click attribution, necessitating a strategic diversification to achieve scalable and impactful results. Partnerize facilitated this transition by developing tailored market-specific strategies and reconfiguring the return on ad spend (ROAS) benchmarks, enabling the delivery of high-value traffic and fostering relationships with upper-funnel partners, particularly in the U.S.
Successfully navigating challenges through a test-and-learn approach and maintaining agility in marketing expenditures across digital channels proved crucial for securing budgets, especially regarding tenancy fee placements.
Energized by the positive insights shared during the sessions, I returned to the networking area, where I visited the BrandVerity x Adore Beauty health check station. There, I enjoyed fresh juice and explored IKOU’s skincare range. I appreciated the synergy between maintaining brand health with BrandVerity and nurturing personal well-being through IKOU’s skincare products. Brand health and search monitoring are crucial for brands and their affiliate programs, and thankfully, our sister brand BrandVerity is equipped to assist.
As a sales leader and former customer service director, I find great fulfillment in witnessing satisfied customers share their success stories. At Partnerize, putting our customers first is a core value proposition, and each time I see our values reflected in a customer’s positive experience, I am genuinely inspired.
Following this, we delved into two trending topics: commerce content and influencer marketing. In Room 1, Jade McDade and Arthur Malkoun presented on how advertisers can leverage commerce content partners to drive performance growth through Skimlinks. They emphasized that the most effective content strategies are ‘always-on,’ yielding returns over extended periods. Publishers typically tailor their content creation and promotion based on their compensation structure; while CPA can provide optimal return on investment (ROI), flat fees offer greater assurance of coverage.
In Room 2, we explored influencer marketing with leaders from LTK and THE ICONIC, Athena Katsogiannis and Tiffany Yuen. They emphasized the importance of experimentation in influencer campaigns, highlighting that optimal results stem from allowing influencers to share their authentic narratives while leveraging LTK for tracking. Influencers are increasingly moving away from unattainable flat fees, focusing instead on long-term partnerships within the CPA model.
As we transitioned to the final session, I noticed tourists outside curiously peeking in, which underscored the significance of the event. Adrian Fargerlund and Pete Richardson from Linkby aptly expressed our fortune to present at the Opera House. They shared insights on securing global media coverage through their CPC-based platform, which operates in the space between fixed-fee agreements and traditional CPA. With just a single brief, brands can efficiently lock in coverage from major publishers on their own terms.
Next door, Richard Crapp and Mariah Poullos from Furthr and MILKRUN presented their successful loyalty partnership. Furthr offers merchants a clear view of incrementality by analyzing transactional data pre- and post-campaign. Their collaboration focuses on engaging customers through extended cash-back offers, resulting in a remarkable 1972% increase in monthly sales and a 20x return on ad spend over the past year.
As the content sessions concluded and networking began, attendees enjoyed glasses of champagne and delectable platters. Despite my decade-long experience in the industry, I was reminded of the continuous learning opportunities available in this ever-evolving field. Each session contributed valuable insights that truly helped us all ‘level up.’
A special thanks to members of the local Partnerize Marketing team, Faria Huq and Georgia Hudson, for all their efforts, as well as to all our speakers and attendees!
